Eir urban FTTH

dam099 · 13-01-2023 3:35pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120096933#Comment_120096933

Except for 1Gb, still only get 940ish on it but I would expect there is no headroom to overprovision that one with 1Gb NIC gear.

23-01-2023 6:14pm

Anyone got any idea what's going on in Cork City with Eir FTTH rollout?

My street had micro ducts installed during the COVID lockdown era - probably around July 2020 and there's been no sign of any further progress since. The ducts are just reeled up on the poles for pretty much 2 years at this stage.

Blazer · 23-02-2023 9:38pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120147218#Comment_120147218

We just moved to another part of Charleville which was earmarked for ftth for sometime in 2023. Eir guy called yesterday letting us know 1gb was coming in late March/April so delighted to hear that, so I imagine they're restarting the rollout schedule for Cork.

24-02-2023 2:30am

Checked with OpenEir and just got a very generic response that it was an active build in my area and they couldn’t provide any further information.

The other streets near by all got connected up early last year. They did roadworks as part of the ducting and that was the last we heard of them.

Siro did a survey here, opening up all the ESB boxes outside house and that’s probably about 3+ years ago at this stage. They stuck little metal markers on the ESB poles and that’s the last I saw of them. Our address was on a “coming soon” build out and then when I checked it again they said the street had been removed from the build out entirely!

Seems I’m stuck with VDSL for the foreseeable.

Older urban areas seem to be the last to get everything. We don’t even have cable for Virgin around here, despite being a short walk from the city centre. It was never wired up by its predecessors back in the day.

clohamon · 29-04-2023 9:15am

Minister still thinking out loud on Universal Service and Copper Switch-off. Very likely that Eircom has also been war-gaming the options.

https://www.kildarestreet.com/debate/?id=2023-04-27a.218

Ossian Smyth (Dún Laoghaire, Green Party) Our national strategy is for everybody in Ireland to have gigabit Internet by 2028. On the current timelines, everybody in rural Ireland will have it by 2026. Our rural deployment is going well. I am responsible for broadband across the whole of Ireland and not just the intervention area. I need to make sure we are not leaving black-spot islands in our urban areas. Just because you are in an urban area, it does not mean you should get broadband two years later than in a rural area. With that in mind, I have been examining policy options for completing urban black spots. I am looking at the copper switch off plans ComReg has been examining and at the universal service obligation for broadband which I brought in in the communication regulations Bill recently. We will have to determine the regulatory mechanism we use to oblige broadband providers to provide their service to everybody so they do not leave cul-de-sacs uncompleted in urban areas. There will be a number of trials and pilots of different technologies to achieve that and we have to do it within state aid rules.

Blazer · 29-04-2023 3:39pm

was supposed to have ftth by mid march/early april and no sign of it yet.

Typical..shouldn't complain as I'm getting 100meg but damnit I want my 1gb :)

pakb1ue · 30-04-2023 1:32pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120282015#Comment_120282015

Just wondering how did you get in contact with OpenEir? Are you referring to that you checked your address on this page https://arcg.is/5bzqe or did you contact them on one of the email address provided here https://www.openeir.ie/contact-us/ ? As I tried the customer care email and didn't get a response.

How did you get in contact with SIRO to see if your address was on the "coming soon" build out?

30-04-2023 9:54pm

I emailed them.

Seems Siro might be connected later this summer. I’ve given up on open Eir

yrreg0850 · 01-05-2023 8:00pm

Signed up with EIR last July . Unfortunately I picked a 2 year contract as it was approx €5 per month cheaper.

I have now been hit with an 8% increase but, I am stuck with them for another 14 months.

oscarBravo · 01-05-2023 8:34pm

A price increase automatically gives you a get-out from your contract, if you act quickly enough. They should have told you that.

Wheety · 05-05-2023 10:29am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120544030#Comment_120544030

They have flagged an annual increase in April every year of the consumer price index + 3%. This is on their website and probably in the contract too. All the suppliers seem to be at this. It's great because my salary is not going up by that much every year.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 7.7% between March 2022 and March 2023. I think they actually reduced their increase a bit this year because it was so high.

oscarBravo · 05-05-2023 11:29am

If you sign up for a multi-year contract that has a price hike included in it, you can't really complain when the price goes up.

Rew · 05-05-2023 1:15pm

OpenEir came out blew the fiber, mounted the DP's and spliced the fibre outside my place. Its three years after they dug the paths, laid the conduite and replaced all the poles.

jd · 05-05-2023 10:13pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120096933#Comment_120096933

This was changed recently, they've upped the profiles slightly to allow for overhead.

clohamon · 26-05-2023 10:18pm

Openeir's upgrade map has been updated. Looks like all or nearly all outstanding blue areas (including intervention spots) now have a 'planned' FTTP upgrade. Total new upgrade premises looks like about 15,000. Now all that's needed is a firm commitment to a connection regardless of cost, and a credible deployment schedule that beats NBI's.

Bottom line; it is not credible that Eircom will build new infrastructure to premises that are already passed by NBI. Their upgrade map should be ignored until there is deployment schedule and a 100% commitment to connect at an affordable price.

Eg R93 RW80

Left to right, NBI's map, department map, Eircom's upgrade map.

Venara · 22-06-2023 7:11pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118315625#Comment_118315625

These white boxes where installed by a KN crew in my apartment block a few months ago.

Is there any general average as to how long it takes from these getting put up until FTTH becomes available to order?

jd · 22-06-2023 9:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120750723#Comment_120750723

It can take a while - the fiber in the little white box probably goes back to your utility riser, that may be the easy bit . Fiber has to get to there from a drop point through sub duct that would have been pulled, then has to be spliced, then tested. Then 28 day waiting period. Have you seen open eir in the development recently?

Venara · 23-06-2023 2:53am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120751435#Comment_120751435

They did indeed cable it through the utility riser.

I haven't seen them again after that crew finished installing all the boxes and connecting them through the risers in all 3 buildings in the apartment block. That said, I may simply have missed them as the only reason I noticed them installing the boxes was that they were pretty loud in the hallway outside my apartment while they were working. Presumably all the other work happens outside the apartments, so it's entirely possible I've simply missed them.

I tried talking to them to get more information but unfortunately none of the crew spoke any useful English. The most adept of them barely managed to communicate just that - that none of them had any good English - and then he wandered back off to their van.

I did speak to eir customer service yesterday as my contract renewal was up. I mentioned the boxes and the guy on the phone seemed optimistic at first that I might be able to pre-order FTTH for whenever it's ready, but after 5 mins on hold he came back to me saying that, while the apartments are indeed slated to be connected, he couldn't find a more definitive date, so he wouldn't be able to place a pre-order. From what I understood, it seems they only do that when they have an approximate connection date scheduled.

In any case, it seems like it's only a matter of time, so it's just a waiting game now. I was just hoping to maybe get a sense for how long it might be.

My current FTTC connection isn't terrible but I'm in the middle of a triangle of cabinets and the fall-off is pretty harsh. I get about ~40 out of a possible maximum of 100 Mbps. Again, not terrible and plenty people have it worse, but I also wouldn't call that "good" in the age of 4K streaming and potentially having multiple people in the house sharing a line to stream, play games, etc.

I'm quite eager to upgrade to FTTH 😅 And not just for the speed, but also because it's cheaper and would bring my monthly bill down considerably. It's €35 for FTTH and I pay €66 for FTTC. You'd think the faster line would be the more expensive option but the eir rep explained on the phone that FTTC is more expensive because of maintenance costs for the copper network that are factored into the pricing.

jd · 23-06-2023 12:06pm

You could try talking to your management company - the directors would have had to approve the civil works before Openeir went into the development. They may have an idea when the works will be completed.

bk · 03-08-2023 5:19pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118315625#Comment_118315625

I just came across your post because those magic boxes appeared above my apartment too!

I got all excited reading your posts thinking OpenEir FTTH was finally coming to my building, at the moment we can only get Virgin Media Coax, no Eir or Siro of any type, not even DSL.

Well to my surprise it turns out it is Virgin Media doing the work! It looks like they are using the same system for their FTTH installs, at least in apartment buildings.

I'm kind of surprised they are doing this work. The building only got cabled up 8 or 9 years ago and can already get 1Gig. Rushing out FTTH seems a bit unnecessary but I assume they are feeling the heat from OpenEir and will fully replace the coax with it.

It is a pity I won't get the option of OpenEir competition and lower prices, but can't really complain about getting access to 2gig FTTH. Though perhaps Vodafone will be an option at some stage.

BTW I did a bit of research and found lots of interesting info about this system. It is called OFS Optics Invisilight, lots of info and videos about it here:

https://www.ofsoptics.com/invisilight-mdu-solution/

https://www.ofsoptics.com/invisilight-ilu-solution/

If you search Youtube there are some interesting videos showing the install too.

Calebmcd · 08-08-2023 4:43pm

Had Cirnet in the estate with Fibre on the trailer and were going through all the manholes eir own.

Is this a sign of FTTH being started?

clohamon · 21-09-2023 8:01pm

Another PQ answered in a way that suggests the networks have agreed to FTTP for all premises in the blue areas. Question is by when ?

Officials in my Department have advised that the area referred to in the Question, which is an extensively BLUE area, currently has 2 commercial operators providing full fibre services to many of the homes and businesses in the location. Any premises yet to be enabled for fibre will be catered for as part of commercial fibre rollouts

oscarBravo · 22-09-2023 11:39am

I suspect there's a belief on the part of the politicians that if there's commercial coverage in an area, there will inevitably be competition for every single premises in that area. This ignores the reality that commercial operators will often not want to bother with a connection if it's awkward or expensive.

If we're relying on the market to ensure 100% coverage in the blue areas, we'll be waiting.

clohamon · 25-09-2023 5:07pm

I presume they can't admit to anything that looks like collusion but there was this also, from March,

Commercial operators have recently indicated their plans to supply Gigabit services to all premises in the BLUE area of the NBP Map as part of their commercial network rollouts.

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/debates/question/2023-03-21/216/#pq_216

oscarBravo · 25-09-2023 6:17pm

Yup, but there's a pretty large gap between a "plan to supply" and a working connection. It's easy to add an Eircode to a "ready for order" list, but there's no guarantee that a connection will be installed once the order is placed. That's the gap that needs to be plugged. Somehow.

25-09-2023 7:33pm

It's weird in my street. OpenEir came in back in summer 2020 and installed micro ducts, and then nothing happened for a long time. In the meantime, Siro began rollout and then seemed to stall a few months ago. I was told we'd be connected sometime in Q3 2023 but in the meantime OpenEir came in and finished their installation, so it looks like they'll be live first ...

Neither of them were particularly fast, over 3 years from start to still not finished.

fasterbetter · 25-09-2023 7:56pm

Same here in Castleknock. 3 years since fibre was pulled in but no attempt to finish it so far....I assume they credit for "houses passed" which meets a KPI somewhere without having to actually offer a service.....

27-09-2023 12:50am

They seemed to be working on actually getting services up and running this week, but it seems like the build out is happening in urban areas in multiple stages with some very long gaps between them.

The civils and micro ducts went in for OpenEir first and then nothing for a very long time.

Siro are saying they are waiting for ESB to deenergise various aspects of the local power network before they can complete. It has to all happen on coordinated days.

I suppose older urban areas are complex though. My local PSTN exchange served about 15,000 premises (obviously not all of them have live OpenEir connections - Virgin has huge uptake) and most of those are buildings served underground or underground to a pole in older parts, through what is probably a complex urban duct network of varying ages that could be anything from dawn of the telegraph to 2020s.

Rural is mostly ribbons of fibre along roads, which is a lot simpler.

honda boi · 29-09-2023 9:08am

Just a quick one for you guys.

i have been on 30mb line for years, got a pamphlet in the post awhile ago about 1GB speed coming to the house with FTTH.

Now nothing has been put in in my house, but when i check what speed i can get in the Eir/Sky site it says i can get 1GB.

Im with pure telecom now. Is it a case of me having to ring them about getting it installed?

chonix · 29-09-2023 11:21am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121156101#Comment_121156101

This, absolutely.

[RANT MODE ON]

I ordered it like a month ago (I was with VM... well, sorta still with VM), already cancelled VM because there was guarantee they could install it since 'it's on the website' the operator said. Even few neighbors got moved to Eir/Sky

Then when contractor came to install; they couldn't install me to the pole that is just left of where I live; but they had to connect me to the one to the one to my right, just across the street (the distance difference is VERY subtle). Guess what: that pole is a safety hazard for the installer because there were nothing to climb that pole; then had to call VM to revert the cancellation that day as they gave an estimation they were going to install the post near DECEMBER 2023 as forecast date.( WHAT?!!! )

Now, I remember 3 months ago when there were several people hanging on those posts for a week installing those fiber boxes. They could do it. But... the boxes are duct taped (lol, well, they're not ideally installed). So..... still very frustrated that service is available, but I'm doomed to the fr****n' post across the street; which I do want to burn down to ashes.

[RANT MODE OFF]

Fiber providers have to get their sh**e together.

pizzahead77 · 29-09-2023 3:18pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121171671#Comment_121171671

Yes it's up to you to order FTTH from a supplier, they just don't automatically upgrade you

29-09-2023 5:57pm

While I know it takes time to rollout this many connections, they could still do with being a lot more transparent on rollout timelines. I know people who should have really gone with wireless alternatives in Cork City Centre (seriously ... in the middle of a city -- no cable, no FTTH and really poor FTTC due to long lines) but have held out with the endless promise of FTTH rollout from both OpenEir and Siro, which seems to just always be 'any week now...'

Some of the very worst broadband in Ireland is in old urban areas of large cities: Dublin 1 and 2, parts of Dublin 7, a lot of the centre of Cork, I don't know about Limerick, Galway and Waterford, but I assume similar issues apply.

If the Government is serious about wanting to regenerate older areas of cities for housing and office spaces, they need to realise there is an actual problem with broadband and it's not a recent one. They're always the last places in the country to get updated, as they're hard to wire and have very old infrastructure.

I now a guy living in an apartment in the centre of Dublin and his house has no cable tv, terrible broadband and he can't even tune in Saorview ... it's a joke. He was relying on 4G and 5G mobile for internet during the lockdown.

Modern suburban areas are the low hanging fruit - density, and relatively modern infrastructure and ducts. Rural is recognised as having issues and has been funded, but the city centre cores and older areas are largely just assumed to be commercially covered, and they often aren't being well served at all.

honda boi · 01-10-2023 12:23am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121173206#Comment_121173206

Cheers pizzahead.

Rang eir and they said it will be available end of next month and to ring pure on this date.

namloc1980 · 02-10-2023 7:01pm

Where I live in East Cork the surrounding nearby towns have all had ftth rolled out by openeir but not here. Siro launched a while back here but had been holding out expecting it to happen with eir but nada. Will go with Siro at the end of the current contract.

clohamon · 24-05-2024 10:14am

Martin Kenny TD raised the issue of arbitrary non-connections with ComReg Commissioner Helen Dixon at an Oireachtas Committee meeting, and whether to deal with it through prompt transfer of affected premises to the NBP, or wait for the providers (Eircom, Virgin, SIRO) to do another sweep.

“We’re not going to know for several years….
…there is a period of time that has to be waited before the picture becomes clearer.” - Helen Dixon

https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/oireachtas-tv/video-archive/committees/9411

From 1:36:00 to 1:43:00

24-05-2024 10:26am

I had the same situation for a while, there was FTTH ducting at the end of the garden since 2019 and they only activated it in March this year. Connection was quite complicated and I had to do a lot of legwork as they had the house mapped to the wrong 'DP'. So, it took multiple visits and a lot of emailing people to get them to redo their mapping.

The phone line was overhead and for some reason they had us mapped to a DP in the middle of the street outside at the other side of the house. It was just a mapping error, but the amount of rigmarole involved in getting it corrected would make the HSE look like a bastion of efficiency.

Aspects of Eir still seem to operate like the P&T in the 1970s, even though it's long since been a private company and is far from being a monopoly, having thrown away most of their business in urban areas by assuming they were a monopoly when UPC / Virgin Media really got building out fast.

I remember the days when Eir was offering crap ADSL speeds while you could get decent speeds on cable, and they were wondering why they were losing customers in cities and towns.

Siro and Virgin are at least keeping us from being stuck with a single access provider and NBI are filling in the blanks in rural areas..

Blazer · 27-05-2024 9:50pm

so according to open eir i can get upto 2gb but apart from Blackmight all the rest are only saying 1gb.
is there a reason for this or will the other resellers update shortly.

jd · 27-05-2024 11:26pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122191498#Comment_122191498

They might not want to offer a retail 2gb project just yet. Most would need to supply a new CPE. Probably wondering is it worth it right now, when most customers won't have the need of it

pizzahead77 · 28-05-2024 3:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122191498#Comment_122191498

Vodafone also offer 2GB over OpenEir

Blazer · 28-05-2024 9:08pm

yeah i know they have the gigamodem+ but their site still doesn’t show me ftth option.

Must keep an eye on it.

Dcully · 03-06-2024 5:04pm

What is the general feeling of decent ISP to go for guys?

Finally after many years i can now avail of FTTH.

Im currently with airwire for 100mb vdsl and they have been decent to deal with but more expensive than the most of the others.

clohamon · 12-06-2024 12:52pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122216079#Comment_122216079

A Vodafone door-to door guy came by here offering a "€40 forever"* deal.

*I think it's this one, but it's subject to CPI + 3% annually.

https://n.vodafone.ie/shop/broadband/nbi.html

Also try Westnet if you're in their catchment.

clohamon · 12-06-2024 1:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122176889#Comment_122176889

Here's the long version of that exchange with ComReg Commissioner Helen Dixon. I doubt that government policy on fibre connections in blue (commercial) areas is as open-ended as ComReg's 'wait and see' strategy.

Ms Helen Dixon: There is no contract there. Obviously, NBI is under contract from the
Minister and the Department in terms of its roll-out to the intervention area. It is under specific
obligations and must install regardless of the difficulties and cost in that intervention area. For
the commercial wholesale providers such as SIRO, Virgin Media and Eir, there is no contract.
They simply contract with individual retail providers but there is no contract with an area, loca-
tion or estate that obligates them to install fibre lines.
Deputy Martin Kenny: That means we do not know the situation for the people who are
left behind. They are technically in an area which is covered by the commercial provider but
they are actually not covered. We will have to wait years before somebody comes back to deal
with them, which is very inappropriate for the individuals who are left behind.
Ms Helen Dixon: The Deputy is right. I think it is only going to emerge over time. For
our part, what we are trying to do is ensure there is competition in the wholesale market. We
now have three providers that are seeking to roll out as far as they can in the commercial space.
They have no desire to bypass any households in the commercial space; they only end up doing
so where they discover it is unviable. From a broad base picture, yes, we are not going to know
for several years which of those areas are definitively bypassed. As the Deputy said, some of
the operators are saying they will skip that area for now but may come back and see if they have
a solution later on.
Deputy Martin Kenny: It is very unsatisfactory, is it not? Certainly for the people who
live in those areas, it is very unsatisfactory.
Ms Helen Dixon: It is, but if one was to say those areas should now be placed in an inter-
vention zone, one is precluding the possibility that a commercial provider may yet pick them up
on a second sweep. In terms of timing, there is a period that has to be waited before the picture
becomes clearer.

naughto · 12-06-2024 1:10pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122250106#Comment_122250106

Have westnet would definitely recommend them

Dcully · 12-06-2024 6:43pm

I went with Digiweb in the end, according to reddit they seem to be pretty good.

Im booked for instal tomorrow morning so fingers crossed.

I went with their 1GB/100MB €34.99 pm for 6 months then €59.99 pm for final 6 months then we can re-negotiate.

I will more than likely settle on 500 MB after the first 12 months but im so long waiting i want to experience 1Gb for a while :P

pg17 · 12-06-2024 7:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122251758#Comment_122251758

Good choice - I'm with Digiweb on VDSL (Openeir FTTC) and have full 100 Mbps no issues. I'm sure you know that, depending on the infrastructure, the wholesaler (Openeir, SIRO or whoever) or their sub-contractor will do the actual installation.

Dcully · 13-06-2024 2:32pm

Finally.

Elessar · 18-06-2024 10:23am

I saw an email from SIRO that Comreg has approved the commencement of the "copper switch off" which is apparently an EU directive where they want all copper broadband switched off by 2030. Certainly news to me.

I live in a house that does not have ducting for fibre cables and despite being in an area of eir's fibre map marked as "live", I don't have any fibre options - it all comes through the copper TV cables ala Virgin Media. I still have 2GB options but if they switch it off what are my options?

clohamon · 18-06-2024 11:29am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/122273000#Comment_122273000

The copper switch off applies to Eircom (Eir). It relates to their old copper voice, ADSL and FTTC networks and may proceed exchange by exchange depending on the 100% availability of either FTTH or alternative 'Modern Infrastructure'. The Modern Infrastructure may be supplied by anyone. Virgin are not caught by the directive and separately have claimed that they'll have their network upgraded to fibre by 2025.

The ComReg decision is here.

https://www.comreg.ie/publication/framework-for-the-migration-from-legacy-infrastructure-to-modern-infrastructure-2

clohamon · 20-06-2024 1:41pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120753530#Comment_120753530

ComReg is consulting currently about mutual access and sharing of in-building cabling among providers. It obviously affects competition, price, and choice. Information about the ability of building management companies to do exclusive deals with particular telecoms providers or charge residents/owners fees in relation to upgrades might be relevant.

https://www.comreg.ie/publication/facilitating-network-deployment-through-infrastructure-sharing

Questions for all Stakeholders

Have you experienced issues (including pricing) with regards to:
(a) access to internal wiring, cabling and other related facilities in a
building like a MDU [Multi-Dwelling Unit] or housing estate?
(b) sharing of infrastructure, network elements or related facilities or
equipment (e.g. masts, antennae, towers, ducts, cabinets, etc.)?
If so, please provide as much detail as possible.

There are other questions in Annex 1 that customers/residents/owners could weigh in on also.

The consultation is open until September 2nd.

Whether ComReg is genuinely interested is another matter.

Eir urban FTTH

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